Could Utah ever land a PGA Tour stop?
The answer is yes, but this is a trick question. The Utah Championship is a PGA Tour-brand event, fitting into the organization as part of the Web.com Tour.
Regarding the actual PGA Tour schedule's ever including Utah, administrators' answer is fans should be content with the current event. It's all about money. The Utah Championship's budget is about $2 million, according to Jeff Robbins, CEO of the Utah Sports Commission, the tournament host. The budget for what would be considered an entry-level event on the PGA Tour calendar is about $7 million.
The Utah Championship's purse is $650,000 ($117,000 to the winner); the PGA Tour's smallest purse is $3 million for the Puerto Rico Open, with 2016 winner Tony Finau earning $540,000. And that tournament is staged opposite a World Golf Championships event, with an elite field.
"We think we've kind of found the right fit for our community with this event, and we think we can grow it," Robbins said.
Some markets smaller than Salt Lake City stage PGA Tour events, but they have longstanding relationships with the tour and have corporate sponsors headquartered in their areas, such as John Deere in the Midwest. Utah has lacked such a sponsorship base.
The absence of support caused a PGA Tour Champions event to drop off the calendar in 2003, after the senior tournament was staged in Park City for 21 years.
So Robbins' message is for Utahns to embrace the Utah Championship, recognizing the level of golf is nearly as good as the PGA Tour and that the players whom fans see at this level, such as 2003 winner Zach Johnson, are headed to the big leagues via Utah.
When the original Ben Hogan Tour was founded in 1990, five players went to the PGA Tour each year. The number is now 50 — with 25 qualifying via regular-season earnings and another 25 advancing through the Web.com Tour playoffs, which involves the Nos. 126-200 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings.
That's illustrates how the Web.com Tour is becoming "a crossover tour," Robbins said, in the PGA Tour's strategy.
Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune Sung Kang hits the ball on the 18th hole during the Web.com Utah Championship golf tournament at Thanksgiving Point Golf Club Sunday August 2, 2015.
